We're being deprived of the ability to respond in a crisis

The Government's slash-and-burn approach to defence policy has deprived Britain of the ability to respond to crises like that in Libya.

HMS Cumberland, the Type-22 frigate bringing Britons out of Benghazi, is due to be turned into razor blades along with three sister ships in a few months.

The defence review is a crude cost-cutting exercise. With the Foreign Office's National Security Strategy, it gives a laundry list of possible risks and threats - but little clue how to meet them.

Labour defence spokesman Jim Murphy has a point when he says the review is "already out of date". A list of senior retired officers, including a field marshal, have today written saying the forces have been cut to the bone, with interests left undefended. They would say this, but something had to be done about the ballooning defence budget.

However, the way team Cameron has gone about it is cock-eyed. They must start again by thinking the unthinkable, perhaps getting rid of big-ticket items like the nuclear deterrent, the carriers, and the joint strike fighter.

They must stop the Civil Service, the Ministry of Defence in particular, moaning about the costs of our Armed Forces personnel, who are a unique strategic asset. And they must arrest the force-level cuts.

We need a flexible defence and security policy for increasingly perilous times. For the upheavals in the Gulf, Egypt and Maghreb look like the first tremors of what may be a very big strategic shock. And we had better be ready.